Poonam Singh

New Delhi: India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,06,25,428 with 14,545 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, while the recoveries have surged to 1,02,83,708, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll increased to 1,53,032 with 163 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,02,83,708 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 96.78 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 2 lakh for the third consecutive day.There are 1,88,688 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 1.78 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 19,01,48,024 samples have been tested up to January 21 with 8,00,242 samples being tested on Thursday.

About 84 per cent of the daily new cases are reported from eight states -- Kerala, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

The nationwide immunisation drive began across the country on January 16, with approval of two Covid vaccines in the country.

As many as 9,99,065 beneficiaries have received the Covid vaccine jabs so far, with 1,92,581 people inoculated on Thursday.

(With Agency Inputs)

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